For 17 years, Bruce Ellis has been running his route in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee, putting on an average of 250 miles a day. And he wouldn’t want it any other way.
Prior to selling tools, Ellis worked as a technician for 10 years. After meeting a local tool dealer and learning about his job, the tech became inspired and thought that would be an “awesome” job one day. Several years later when he was ready for a career change, he decided to look into it further. When a position opened, he jumped on it.
“I love it,” Ellis says. “I’ve always liked the aspect of being involved with cars. [The job] keeps me in touch with the automotive business and I get to meet a lot of great people.”
Of his 17 years as a tool dealer, the last 10 years have been with Cornwell Quality Tools. Most of Ellis’ visits are body shops, but he also stops at many dealerships in Alabama and ma and pop shops in Tennessee.
Over the years, Ellis has dialed-in to his sense for reading customers’ personalities. When a new customer steps onto his 2019 24’ Freightliner he says he can quickly tell what type of customer they are going to be — such as a good customer or someone he doesn’t want around for too long.
However, regardless of type, Ellis is dedicated to providing good, quality service.
“I do my best to give exceptional service to my customers,” he says. “If they ask for something, I like to make sure to get it to them and take care of them. I’m not pushy.”
When out making stops, Ellis enjoys talking with the guys to learn new things about cars, which have certainly come a long way, he notes.
“Everything is getting to be so electronic that technicians are having to change the way they work on cars,” he says. “It used to be ratchets, wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, and tools like that. Nowadays, people are coming in looking for diagnostic and TPMS tools.”
When COVID-19 hit, Ellis thought business was going to slow down and, in a way, he was kind of looking forward to a change in pace.
“Business picked up probably 10 to 15 percent at least,” he says, reasoning that people could 1) afford to leave their vehicles at shops to get fixed since they aren’t driving so much and 2) the stimulus checks helped them financially to get their vehicles fixed.
When it comes to selling tools, Ellis finds that feedback is the best sales tool. When a new tool comes in, he’ll give a discount to the first one or two customers who buy so that they provide him with some feedback.
“It helps to sell the new items,” he says.
Even though Ellis hopes to retire in five years, he plans to sell as much as he can until then and continue keeping up with the ever-changing automotive industry.
